Alex and Viviana Santamarina
Viviana, a designer, and Alejandro, a painter, began in 1982 working with unusual design and arts materials. They started designing a line of contemporary jewelry, fashion accessories and home furnishings and since 1987 they have introduced a line of modern home accessories, along with lamps and furniture.
Their work got immediate recognition and Galleries Museum Shops and Stores all over the country from the Guggenheim museum store to the Milwaukee art museum. Their designs are also featured in galleries in London, Japan, Mallorca and Buenos Aires. Today over 100 Galleries and Museum stores throughout the U.S. carry their designs.
"We mostly use materials like stainless steel mesh, wood and rubber. The processes we use are somewhat inspired by early pre-industrial methods. We elaborate in the concept of bi-dimensional cuts that with creases and folds that will become 3D objects.
"Almost all of our designs are in a sense unique and different from each other since the technique we use makes almost impossible to come up with two identical pieces.
"We shape the stainless steel by applying pressure and folds, we use wood and rubber to hold the tension that the steel generates, and in this way the object defines itself."